Israel-Palestine+Question

The Israel-Palestine Question




 * __Essential Questions:__ **
 * 1) ====** Can people live in peace together when deeply held beliefs and views are in conflict? **====
 * 2) ====** Should the international community play a role in helping countries establish self-determination? **====
 * 3) ====** Is it ever OK for victims to become the persecutors? **====
 * 4) ====** Is violence justified when access to resources is cut off? **====
 * 5) ====** Does the Holocaust excuse Israel from overreaching partition boundaries with Palestine? **====

> No, because this will only create a violent, never-ending cycle. > No, violence is never justified, because there are always other options available. > No, the Holocaust is NOT an excuse, because this overreaching signifies aggression that can lead to violent outbreaks.
 * Opener 4/7/14: **
 * **I do believe that such people can co-exist, because a generation of youthful people has come about, meaning that they're more tolerant and understanding when it comes to religious beliefs and practices.** Yes they can, but only if they have respect and tolerance for each other.
 * **I believe that the international community should get involved, because some would-be nations need resources, military power, etc. to actually achieve independence or statehood.** The international community should make sure that no violations occur and no major outbreaks of military violence occur, but other than that, the country should be allowed to be sovereign.
 * **In no way is it ever OK for this to happen, because the victims should know to not pass on human suffering, the likes of which they faced.**
 * **Yes, violence is justified, because when life depends on these resources, a group should be allowed to fight in order to survive, proving their resolve.**
 * **In no way does the Holocaust excuse Israel from doing this, because although the Jews of Europe may have needed to live somewhere after this genocide, what gave them the right to overreach? They could have just as easily helped to rebuild Europe and their original homes like other Europeans.**

DJ on Israel-Palestine Video: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tlqpPs7h9x4vixF2q97avlAUpmuSKLDZfashMWbTl8M/edit

Bias of Israel-Palestine Video: This video is completely biased against the Israelis and the West and biased in favor of the Arab nations. This video completely demonizes the Jews that fled from Europe and completely took over the land from the Palestinians who'd been there for hundreds of years. Furthermore, the video makes the Palestinians in the West Bank seem like they've been completely starved of resources and water, while the Israelis are living like kings. The video also depicts how the West, especially the US, has provided Israel with so much military equipment that they can do whatever they want to the Palestinians, including barring them from their original homes. In conclusion, the video makes the viewer feel terrible for the Palestinians and feel guilty for allowing the Israelis to gain so much power.

Terms for Israel-Palestine Conflict: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QmLU0rtkK_SE2DSsxEBnGga3hZdC4iLtpp-J5G1XVIw/edit

Israel-Palestine Chess Match Picture Detective:

Palestine, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Questions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VB6lXMuDqcSaHGI8_sJ4P8k7zWlC_QtRu9UMuPrdnRw/edit

Israel-Palestine Political Cartoon:
 * ** The message of this cartoon is that Palestine started the whole conflict between Israel and itself, and that Israel was only defending itself against the aggressor. **
 * ** Israel only wanted peace and happiness, but Palestine wouldn't allow any of it. **
 * ** The bias is against the Palestinians, because it portrays the Israelis as the ones being provoked, but that get in trouble when the real bully gets fame and recognition. **
 * ** Pro-Israeli video, because the Israeli boy was being provoked, but because of his size, he was seen as the true bully. **
 * ** Pro-Israeli video, because the Israeli boy was being provoked, but because of his size, he was seen as the true bully. **

In the late 1880's a group of Zionists traveled to Palestine to see what it offered as a Jewish homeland. One Zionist said, when he returned to Europe:


 * "The Bride is beautiful but she is married to another man" **


 * **What was meant by this quote:** The Zionists meant that the Holy Land of Palestine was exceptionally wondrous and beautiful, yet the people who thrived there and made up a majority of the populace weren't Jewish, but Muslim.


 * Reflection: Part 1 Guide questions: **


 * 1. What information did you find most interesting about the conflict from this portion of the reader? **
 * I found the fact that the British were the ones causing the confusion within the region of Palestine to be most interesting, simply because of how contradictory the Balfour Declaration and Hussein-McMahon Correspondence were to each other, yet they were both created by British officials.
 * 2. Explain and give examples of how other nations and international organizations impacted the conflict. **
 * The British and the French created a secret pact to split up the Arabic world, leading to western fears in the Arab community. Furthermore, the British created conflict by promising a Jewish and Arab state to be created in the Palestinian region, leading to fighting between the two groups in the 1920s and 1930s. Finally, the League of Nations made Britain help in the establishment of a Jewish state, further infuriating the Arabs of the region.


 * Reflection: Part 2 Guide questions: **


 * 1. How did the UN try to keep peace in the region? **
 * The UN decided to partition the land of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, each with roughly the same amount of land and populations mostly composed of their own people (i.e. Jews in the Jewish state and Palestinians in the Arab state).
 * 2. How did war impact the region? **
 * War split up the region into the State of Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Israel controlled 77% of the land while Jordan controlled the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip.
 * 3. Reflect on the treatment of Palestinian refugees **
 * Palestinian refugees are rarely seen as welcomed people. Jordan is the only nation to grant citizenship to its Palestinian refugees, while Syria and Lebanon see the refugees as serious threats to security, even blaming them for inciting the Lebanese Civil War and targeting them as threats to Syria. In Israel, Palestinians were treated as second-class citizens, and they were barred from practicing their cultural practices as well as being under a constant military government.

** Visual Time Line of the Israeli- Palestine Conflict[[image:mastromaurowh/Timeline of Israel Palestine.PNG caption="Timeline of Israel Palestine.PNG"]] **

 * 1) From 1917 to 1946, very few Jews actually came to Palestine, and those that did had to have paid for their land, meaning that most of the land belonged to the Palestinians. 1917: No land for what Israel would become, little actual thought toward a Jewish state.
 * 2) In 1947, the entire land was reworked, granting Jews a massive amount of land, hundreds of times larger than what they'd had previously. Jewish settlement by 1946 was sparse and only located in the North and West of the land.
 * 3) In 1947, the holy cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem were located within the Arab portion of the land, yet they were considered international land. By 1947, there was a huge increase in the numbers of Jews entering and living in the land of Palestine.
 * 4) After the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-1949, the Israelis gained even more territory, including the western half of Jerusalem, while the Arab land was shrunk substantially. In 1949, the land of Palestine has become the State of Israel and the Palestinian land was reduced to the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
 * 5) In the present day, the Palestinian lands within the State of Israel are almost non-existent, with only the Gaza Strip and some little zones of the West Bank still under Palestinian control. Only a few locations where Palestinians are still predominant are left, including the Gaza Strip and a few areas of the West Bank.


 * Reflection: Part 3 Guide Questions: **


 * 1. What role did the international community play in the 1967 War? **
 * ===== The international community prompted the start of the 1967 War when Britain and France attacked Egypt. However, after the war, the US and USSR worked together, in a rare moment of cooperation, to incite Israel's withdrawal from the lands that it had conquered and force them to return back behind armistice lines. =====
 * 2. How can "language be used to one's advantage? (UN resolution 242) **
 * Language, in the case of Resolution 242, can be a great asset, because a simple word, like "the", can mean the difference between giving up control of all of one's territory or just some small fraction of it. The English version of the Resolution called for Israel to give up "territories" while the French version had it giving up "the territories", meaning that the Israelis would look toward the English version, because it only required the nation to give up some territory.
 * 3. Evaluate the treatment of Palestinian refugees by Israelis after the war? What are some possible reasons for this treatment? **
 * The Israelis treated Palestinian refugees after the war like constant threats to national security, forcing them to abide by curfews, live under an oppressive military government, and give-up their customs. Some possible reasons for this treatment include the Israeli want for a totally Jewish state, and the fear that the Israelis had for any Arabs, seeing as no Arab nation was their ally, only an enemy out to kill. By oppressing the Palestinians, the Israelis would be stopping future terrorism from Arabs.


 * Additional Information about the Six Day War: **
 * Syrian ambassador to the UN accuses Israel of cease-fire violations
 * USSR threatens to sanction Israel, and they actually break relations with Israel
 * Israel uses air-power to strike against UAR militaries
 * Israeli jets coming from the Mediterranean wiped out the air forces of Egypt and other UAR nations
 * Israelis did **NOT** destroy any religious sites during the war, especially in Jerusalem and Bethlehem
 * Israelis were more like tourists when conquering the West Bank, especially because they had not been allowed to enter Jerusalem for years while it was under Jordan's rule.
 * Israeli General Moshe Dayan pledged to **NEVER** give up Jerusalem, and that Israel would decide its own future.


 * Reflection: Part 4 Guide Questions: **


 * Evaluate Israel's response to the 1st Intifada. How could it have been handled differently? **
 * Israeli forces used violent and lethal force to put-down the Intifada, including using the military to kill roughly 1,000 Palestinians, regardless of age. The Israelis also arrested an absurd number of Palestinian protesters, along with using secret units to assassinate key Palestinian targets leading the Intifada. The Israelis could have tried to negotiate with the Palestinians and hear out their demands, instead of using lethal force against peaceful protesters.
 * Evaluate the US role in the peace attempts in the region. What were the causes of successes and failures? **
 * The US was simply trying to establish some sort of peace in order to gain dominance in the Middle East. US attempts to have Israel and the Arabs negotiate met with failure, due to the fact that Israel refused to talk about Palestinian freedom or include the PLO in negotiations. Also, failure came due to the Israeli stance against ever giving up any part of Jerusalem. However, some success came, because of the Israeli opening to talks surrounding Jerusalem, a previous taboo.
 * Assess the role of Israel and the PLO in attempts at peace. **
 * Both parties are at fault for not being able to achieve peace, because neither side has given into the others' demands surrounding their most important stances. Israel has always refused to give up any portion of Jerusalem and refuses to recognize the Palestinian state. The PLO refused to give up its want for a sovereign state and demanded the Eastern portion of Jerusalem.

=//** Political Cartoon: The Yom Kippur War **//=


 * Summary of the Political Cartoon: ** My political cartoon represents the beginning of the Yom Kippur War, the alliances that made up the war, and the US's response to the attack upon Israel. Primarily, Egypt and Syria, joining forces after the US and Israel turned down an Egyptian peace treaty in return for the Sinai Peninsula, attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, the most holy of Jewish holidays, in 1973. During the Yom Kippur War, the Arab nations were able to wage war against Israel effectively at first, however, the Israeli military was just too strong and overwhelming for Egypt and Syria. With the war underway, the US supplied Israel with even more military aid to fight off the Egyptians and the Syrians.


 * Reflection: Part 5 Guide Questions: **

**1. Discuss the viewpoint of the Israelis and the Palestinians on the barrier between Israel and the West Bank.** **2. What do you see as the major stumbling blocks in the attempted peace talks discussed in this section?**
 * The Israelis view the barrier to be necessary to protect the State of Israel and its people, both Israelis and Palestinians, from "terrorist activity". However, the Palestinians, and a small group of Israelis, believe the barrier to be unnecessary and intrusive to the lifestyles of the Palestinians whose land has been confiscated and turned upside-down by the construction of the barrier, even dubbing it the "apartheid wall". Free movement for Palestinians is denied by the barrier.
 * One of the major stumbling blocks in the peace talks organized by the Quartet is that the US is a major moderator in the talks. They are a problem, because they are a major ally of Israel, meaning that they are somewhat blind to the aspirations of the Palestinians and other Arabs, only looking-out for the well-being of Israel. Palestine wants Israel to go back to its 1949 borders and for them to recognize Palestine as an actual state.


 * Reflection: Part 6 Guide Questions: **

**1. Do you think Palestine should be a full member of the UN? Why or why not?** **2. Evaluate how a lasting peace could be achieved in this conflict. Give specific evidence from your work.**
 * I do not believe that Palestine should be a full member of the UN, because the political structure of the Palestinian Authority is too unstable for a very small nation to be successful. Also, by allowing Palestine to be a member nation, more arguments and trouble will come about when Israel and the US try to deny them their national rights, probably leading to violence as it has in the past. The continuing problems between Israel and Palestine mean that civilized and mutual talks in the UN could be impossible and definitely improbable.
 * A lasting peace could be achieved when the Israelis and the Palestinians decide to partition parts of the West Bank, the Israeli settlements, and the Israelis promise to provide compensation and resettlement for Palestinian refugees. The Olmert-Abbas Negotiations came so very close to achieving peace, but land disputes were the only things to destroy them. Israel **must** recognize the rights of the Palestinians and the Palestinians must turn away from violence as an option for political change.

** Different Viewpoints on the Barrier Wall Notes: ** https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vo7OBI_Zh1t1ZVIw4d2Uq41fdeXRBDX3kw_AZ-V2-oA/edit

Explain to Me: Palestinian Statehood DJ

**What Does Palestinian Statehood Mean? Mark-Up:** https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IKEb5qtSCRHWi34-iH_kzyWmUyzgcVQozT6GHy-ArXc/edit


 * Final Draft of Assessment: **

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_D8wJU-_brUPJYPgnGxvh7_W3fEt8l3iYvNL1_twAts/edit